Water consumption..

[Bulls Beers]

Is it me or do we as homebrewers, use alot of water? Between spilling some and sanitizing and brewing I seem to use alot..Anybody have any tricks to conserve alittle H2O?

 

[Jesse17]

Mix Star San in a spray bottle rather than large sinks full.

If you use a wort chiller, use a recirculating pump rather than a hose.

 

[brewhead]

5 gallons of water per gallon of beer

 

[jdoiv]

I have gotten to keeping a corny full of star san and hooking up a picnic tap to it. Quick rinse down and things get sanitized.

The recirculating chiller method is good as well.

Though I still use a ton of water.

 

[RichBrewer]

Some day I would love to measure just how much water I use on a batch. I bet it is about 5 gallons per gallon of beer or more!

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Luckily water is cheap. Try not showering on brew day. That'll make up for it.

 

[Bulls Beers]

Luckily water is cheap. Try not showering on brew day. That'll make up for it.

That's funny..My sons in college and i 'm thinking he's not here taking a shower.So i'm saving there.

I've never worried about water consumption before.I don't know why i'm thinking about it now...

 

[homebrewer_99]

I use so much water for brewing we had to get the pool taken out of the ground...

Just kidding!!! We don't have a pool...

 

[Jesse17]

There's a guy in Oregon planning on doing a 100 gal. batch of beer with rain water. I figure he has made up for my next several batches using tap water, so I'm off the hook.

The rest of you, keep saving water...

 

[TheJadedDog]

I just do the best I can at minimizing how much I use. Reusing sanitizer is the best option.

 

[Bulls Beers]

Sanitizing is the one of the bigger issues for me with water consumption. I use one-step. Somebody told me i can't reuse it. If that's true, I need to change.

 

[Drunkensatyr]

I am guilty of not "conserving" water. On the other hand, I am creating some great organic fertilizer out of the grains, so give a little take a little.... (P.S. Watering your lawn takes more water than you use on brew day)

 

[Bulls Beers]

I am guilty of not "conserving" water. On the other hand, I am creating some great organic fertilizer out of the grains, so give a little take a little.... (P.S. Watering your lawn takes more water than you use on brew day)

Beer is much more important than a green lawn so.....

 

[homebrewer_99]

My lawn has been white all weekend...last weekend too!!

 

[Bulls Beers]

My lawn has been white all weekend...last weekend too!!

Plenty of water on it...

 

[stale]

hey bull just switch to Star San. When you mix this up you can reuse it for a loooong time. PS. it a no rinse also

 

[bradsul]

That's the one aspect of brewing I didn't like much (we were on basically constant water restrictions this year too). The only place I think brewing is really wasteful is in the cooling process. Originally I would just let that go down the grain.

Now I save all that nice warm water exiting my CFC into a large garbage can and use that for my cleaning. I've never actually measured how much water goes into the can but it's better than sending it directly down the drain.

 

[Joker]

There's a guy in Oregon planning on doing a 100 gal. batch of beer with rain water. I figure he has made up for my next several batches using tap water, so I'm off the hook.

Well that is one days worth of rain what does he plan on doing with tomorrows accumulation. *little oregon rain humor for ya* :rockin:

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I use 2-3 gallons of water per gallon of beer in strike/sparge water alone. I find, though, that I use quite a bit more in cleaning, sanitizing, etc. So, for a 5 gallon AG batch, I'm probably up around a 5:1 ratio. When it comes to 15 gallon AG batches, I think the ratio drops off a bit to somewhere less than 4:1.

 

[Bulls Beers]

hey bull just switch to Star San. When you mix this up you can reuse it for a loooong time. PS. it a no rinse also

How long is long? I use one-step and seem to got through alot of it..

 

[Jesse17]

Well that is one days worth of rain what does he plan on doing with tomorrows accumulation. *little oregon rain humor for ya* :rockin:

I lived in Port Angeles, WA. years ago, so I know what you're talking about.

 

[david_42]

I don't seem to use all that much water, maybe 15 gallons for a 5 gallon batch. Having very cold tap water helps, as the chiller is the main user. None of it is really wasted as it either goes directly on the plants or indirectly via the septic system.

But, to put water usage in perspective, my meter fee is $12/month vs. $3.60/month for the water.

 

[EbenezerScrews]

My house has a VERY small well, i don't know how I keep dealing with it. homebrewer99 you were joking about the pool, but I actually filled mine in because the well wouldn't keep it level...could not keep up with the rapid decrease of evaporation, haha, and tankers are a f'n rip man, anyways. I clean stuff at night as not to distrub anyone elses water needs. Frustrating. I got about 100 bottles that need to be soaked (donated and nasty). New equipment that needs to be cleaned. I doubt I can do all this tonight before the the tap runs dry. I should have collected all that damn snow i shoveled a few weeks back...oh well...

once clean, star san f'n rocks
Eb

 

[CBBaron]

One of the great things about living in Cleveland is the water supply is Lake Erie, and the water infrastructure is over built for the current demand. No water usage restrictions and no danger of ones in the foreseeable future.
I don't normally water my lawn any ways, and when I wash my brewing gear I usually do so over the lawn to prevent runoff and conserve a little but I don't really concern myself with water usage.
Craig

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Just got my EOY water bill. They have different rates per 10,000 gals of water used. I went over 70K for the first time this past year I blame it on my chiller.

 

[Donasay]

I am ultra concerned with water usage as I have to truck all of the water I use to my winter brewhouse (a warehouse with no running water) That means I go out with 40 gallons of water and come back with some dirty stuff that needs to be cleaned. There are quite a few things you can do to conserve. Recirculating the water through the wort chiller is one big one. I have a big 30 gallon tub that I fill with about 5 to 10 gallons of water and then add frozen water bottles floating in the water so everything cools quicker and instead of using ice I can just re-freeze the bottles for next week. After I am done chilling I use that water for my cleanup and then dump the used soapy water in my used primary fermenters to let them soak and decake a lot of the crud. Sanitizer in a spray bottle works wonders, and star san can be re-used over and over again. About 1 gallon will last me an entier brew day.

Once the

 

[Donasay]

I am ultra concerned with water usage as I have to truck all of the water I use to my winter brewhouse (a warehouse with no running water) That means I go out with 40 gallons of water and come back with some dirty stuff that needs to be cleaned. There are quite a few things you can do to conserve. Recirculating the water through the wort chiller is one big one. I have a big 30 gallon tub that I fill with about 5 to 10 gallons of water and then add frozen water bottles floating in the water so everything cools quicker and instead of using ice I can just re-freeze the bottles for next week. After I am done chilling I use that water for my cleanup and then dump the used soapy water in my used primary fermenters to let them soak and decake a lot of the crud. Sanitizer in a spray bottle works wonders, and star san can be re-used over and over again. About 1 gallon will last me an entier brew day.

 

[Soulive]

I am careful not to waste too much for brewing and then I look to conserve in other areas. I've been thinking about getting a rain barrel for watering my hops and making sanitizer solution. I also don't flush every time or shower every day...